I hate doctors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This mystery illness began on July 7 and has been progressively worse. When I first saw the doctor, he ordered some tests and said the lab would call back if there was anything wrong.

Well, nothing's been getting better. I saw a different doc on monday (having moved to a different clinic, I have no new set doctor yet). She looked at the lab test reports and asked me to repeat my story. She ultimately said that the reports had shown nothing, take 300mg of Zantac per day and if things don't get better in 2 weeks I'd have to go to hospital for some intrusive tests because they just don't know what's going on...

Then came Tuesday. I had been doing more of the usual plus a fair amount of vomiting. I nearly passed out at work so the ambulance was called and I was taken to hospital. They looked at the lab notes and found that there was a trace of whatever suggesting a parasitic infection.

I should have stayed at the uptown clinic, 35 miles away, where they take every damn thing seriously. The new clinic, 1 mile from where I work, seemed nice enough to ignore just a trace of a possible red flag which neatly explains everything that's haywire with me right now!

If the lab had taken note of what they found more seriously, or even if the 2nd doc had, I may not have needed to get the ambulance and emergency room stay, which'll cost me a packet... :grr:

I'd fight on the grounds that their oversight caused me the trip to the ER and ambulance and all, but then they'd probably cancel my insurance, damned scumbags... but it's still my fault I suppose, apart from that slight trace of resisude or whatever there are no leads whatsoever that fit what I'm experiencing. Ugh.

</rant>

And I work for them. I just did an electronic presentation for a doc who was advising the greenhorn docs on how to win malpractice cases. He actually said it doesn't matter if you (the doc) were wrong!!! Scumsucking pigs.

My condolances to you!

And I agree; people in every other profession have to be held accountable. Doctors must be as well. Especially so because they hold the well being of lives in their hands.

Rewards doctors for acting like pompous twits...protected by the pharmaceutical industry. They don't care about anything but the bottom line, their patient's health oinly matters if they can afford treatment...

Ugh. And we don't do it like they do it in Canada or Sweden because....?

Given how I've been throwing up and am having difficulty eating more than just a few crackers, I was amazed that they sent me home with a prescsrip for pills to swallow. I personally felt it would have been better to keep me there for observation and to get those more intrusive tests done with along with an IV solution. They knew I've been living with this nasty illness for several weeks now. I swear, Regions is certainly not like North Memorial... (N. Memorial is also 35 miles away, unfortunately...)

Right now I'm hoping I won't be vomiting up any pills. So far one is staying, but I won't be eating - which is not much of a problem...

LOL, and that's the funny part. The pills they prescribed are supposed to be taken with food. :eyes:

But this is America; the bottom line means more than anything else. This is the "freedom" which George Whifflebrains Bush* thinks the terrorists are jealous of. And it's doubly sad because I pay for the top-dollar plan as well. :-(

from illness, injury and disease? You commie!

I was a nurse and I married a doctor (I know I know but I really never intended to). I NEVER go to the doctor but that is why my husband had to trick me into the ER visit that confirmed my bad case of pneumonia. I would have guessed you had a parasitic infection, Jeeze, why did it take them so long?

who never ask directions or go to the doctor unless we think we're gonna die. Another gender stereotype destroyed! :silly:

:eyes:

Anyone can do things by the book and be revered as saints. It takes real talent to go beyond the book. The people who went beyond the book seem to disappear, while those who color by numbers seem to increase their numbers. On the plus side, that'll eventually devalue their profession as well, so maybe we will all get a reformed healthcare system someday. :-(

Oh, and they still said they're still not certain if it is a parasitic infection. And in all fairness they could be correct, but all the symptoms appear to be as such, so why they didn't progress along that tangent much sooner is beyond me. My previous doctor I bet would have saw the possible red flag and would have done something about... but that's conjecture.

I'm definitely glad that you got to the ER though! Hope you got through that pneumonia without too many nasty side-effects!

to be keeping the content mild here but I have to say this. I am unsure what invasive proceedures they are talking about. Seems that they first should try the cheaper and least invasive proceedures first. You might ask them whay no one has taken a stool sample. A quick look under a scope just might confirm this without invasive, expensive proceedures.

I've had 3 stool samples so far (from 2 weeks ago); they ordered them early on. 1 for bacterial, 2 for parasites. I had another stool sample done yesterday at the ER, though they (to my knowledge) have not yet tested it, but it was the samples from 2 weeks ago which gave the only trace of possibility that it is a parasitic invasion.

The next step is, literally, intrusive. I reeeeeally don't want to be descriptive as it's just... yuck. But I think you understand where I'm going with this... I'm seriously hoping the antibiotics work. But considering how I'll eat or drink and watch it get flushed like 5 minutes later, I doubt the pill stays in long enough to do any good. :-(

you should start feeling some relief (tho' nothing near total wellness) with the first few pills. I coughed up one while I was taking the stuff, I think it was the 2nd or 3d dose, but I managed to keep the rest down.

Oh, the stuff I took does make you nauseous too, on top of the other nauseous feeling. :crazy:

That's what I finally wound up doing. Your story sound eerily similar to mine. Not saying you have the same thing. BUt the pattern is very similar, complete with negative tests, and trip to the ER.

edit: And oh yes, the everlasting GI distress. :puke: :puke:

edit2: At the GI doc's, those tests eventually came back negative too. But, he insisted the day I saw him to take antibx ANYWAY just to cover it. I started the atibx even before I did the tests (stool cultures, Yuk! :puke: )

After I completed those antibx is when I finally started to feel well and not nauseaous. It took me a few more weeks to get rid of feeling so weak.

Why haven't you insited on seeing a diagnostician? Are they all gone?
Used to be if your family doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong, he sent you to a guy who wasn't a practitioning physician but who had a knack for tying symptoms to their cause. He then sent you back to your Doctor who would suggest a treatment regimen based on the diagnosis. Simple, efficient and effective.

Time to sue the bastards, I think.

If they at the clinic were on the ball (or if either doctor had taken an educated guess over the results instead of letting me get so bad I had to go to the ER where they saw the same report and actually bothered to do something about it), I would have been on meds ~2 weeks ago and would have known by now if this parasite infection is indeed the culprit. But that's not enough to sue them.

For the principle of the thing, I agree on suing, but I'd only want to buck the system if it were a serious issue. What I'm experiencing now is just a nasty nuisance, it's not serious yet. Though if it becomes serious then I think I might have a case. I just hope it doesn't get that bad though!!

I haven't insisted on anything because, outside of computers, I haven't a bloody clue as to what to go do. I've always assumed those in the medical field know what to do with medical situations.

nt

Can thermo or someone point me to the original thread on this?

I HATE the health issue in this country--I haven't been diagnosed properly either, and I can't go to another doctor unless he's a referral (who no one will give me, as all the 'tests' came back negative).

I'm feeling better, but it's still scary because I don't know what the hell it was, and it could come back any time.

Thermo, though, glad to hear they *finally* caught something. Hopefully it means you'll be feeling better soon.

even without a referral there are MDs with whom you can made appointments. Of course it'll cost you more $$ than it otherwise would, but to get the right info, it's worth it IMO.

The price is already pinching me...

I'd like to see another doc, but I don't know which to go to (pulmonary, etc.--all those tests were fine but this is part of the problem, regular people aren't medically trained, so how do we know what to ask for?), and since I'm getting better I've been debating with myself whether I need to shell out *more* dough now--it may have been a virus, for all I know.

But I know, I know, I should find out. In addition to hating health care in this country, I also hate money in general.

The doctor I have been seeing for my digestive disruption seems decent. She had lab tests done which came up negative. I am finally getting better but if I hadn't or start getting worse again, she'll order a colonoscopy. My regular doctor on the otherhand, diagnosed my chronic sinus infection as allergies and said that my chronic stomach problems were just a complication of my anxiety. It was almost a year before she had any tests done. I was finally diagnosed by an ears, nose, throat specialist and took antibiotics for a month. Both my sinuses and stomach got better. I agree that simpler tests should be performed first but that the results should be followed up on that the doctor should order more expensive tests sooner rather than later. People should not have to suffer for a long time or experince life threatening illness because of a doctor who wanted to save the insurance company a little money.